Recent amateur videos appeared to show smoke and dust billowing into the air in the aftermath of the building being struck by military trucks that had taken position some distance away on a roadside.

Another video also said to be filmed in Deir al-Zor purported to show the aftermath of an air strike which is said to have struck an oil pipeline, with the sound of intermittent gunfire ringing out. Dark black cloud hand over the city skyline.

Reuters is unable to independently verify the content of these videos. The government restricts access to foreign media.

The uprising-turned-civil war that is now raging across Syria has killed more than 30,000 people, according to activist groups like the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

But beyond the dramatic human cost, many of Syria's historic treasures have also fallen victim to an 18-month-old conflict that has reduced parts of some cities to ruins.

The bloodshed in Syria has escalated since rebels took their fight to the major cities. Activists reported fresh clashes in the capital Damascus and surrounding suburbs and said security forces were torching homes as helicopters buzzed overhead.

Assad has defended the fierce crackdown that spawned the armed rebellion, arguing that he has been fighting Islamist militants funded from abroad.